The initial repairs the Harrier needed were tricky because it's one-of-a-kind, and the work it currently is undergoing poses challenges, too. "The Harrier is much more complicated than a standard jet," said Nalls, a former U.S. Marine Corps pilot who now makes his living in real estate but spends much of his time prepping his three aircraft to perform in air shows. His Harrier sits in a hangar at St. Mary's County Regional Airport, near Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland, along with Nalls' 1982 Aero Vodochody L-39 jet trainer. The team of professional maintainers and Marines carrying out the work hope to have it on-wing again after revamping its hydraulic system and undoing the damage incurred during the failure.

When considering the Harrier, Nalls said it was "a business decision," because it would make a popular air show airplane. Still, questions remained. Would he be able to fly it? "I flew them in the Marine Corps, I flew them as a test pilot, but I hadn't flown them in 16 years," Nalls noted. And then, would he be able to find the mechanics and locate the spare parts needed to get it back into flying condition? "I think the answer to those [questions], so far, is yes," he said.

People Skills

One of the first challenges Nalls met was finding people to help bring his Harrier up to speed. He noted that the FAA requires even experimental aircraft to be maintained by FAA-licensed A&Ps with inspection authority. "[FAA-licensed] mechanics don't have a lot of Harrier experience. They have some, but not much," he said. "We've augmented that with Marines from Cherry Point [N.C.]."

The "tricks of the trade" the Marines who've volunteered their free time bring to the table have been indispensable, said Nalls. One of those cases was reattaching the Harrier's wing, which arrived from the U.K. separately from its fuselage. It's secured with six very specialized bolts, three on each side. Nalls said they managed to line up four of them, but two refused to lock in place. The Marine Corps volunteers who came in suggested a tried-and-true way to do it, said Nalls: "They said, 'This is the way you do it. You get somebody with a big butt, and you have them sit out on the wing tip and bounce up and down.'" Once they had two guys out on the wing tip, bouncing slightly, they were able to tap the bolts right into place. "We had played with these things for hours, not wanting to hit them very hard," he said. "It was just the tricks of the trade that these guys knew that made it absolutely simple."

The combination of experiences that the Marines and other mechanics on the team possess has been key in meeting the Harrier's maintenance needs. "It's a combined effort with the FAA-certified mechanics and the active duty Marines that has put this airplane together," said Nalls.

Dedicated maintainers Rich Gill and Christian Vlahos spend time outside their 9-to-5 day jobs working on the Harrier. Vlahos owns Chesapeake Aviation, where the Harrier currently is housed, and Gill has worked on-site at St. Mary's County Regional since 1988, "with just about every operation that has been based out of there."

"It's a lot of fun to work on an airplane that nobody else gets to work on in the civilian world," Vlahos said.

Down To The Nuts And Bolts